Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae).
Pliocene baleen whale assemblages are characterized by a mix of early records of extant mysticetes, extinct genera within modern families, and late surviving members of the extinct family Cetotheriidae. Although Pleistocene baleen whales are poorly known, thus far they include only fossils of extant...
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crcenteros:10.31233/osf.io/zqahu 2024-03-03T08:42:59+00:00 Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). Boessenecker, Robert 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.31233/osf.io/zqahu unknown Center for Open Science https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode posted-content 2018 crcenteros https://doi.org/10.31233/osf.io/zqahu 2024-02-07T10:54:06Z Pliocene baleen whale assemblages are characterized by a mix of early records of extant mysticetes, extinct genera within modern families, and late surviving members of the extinct family Cetotheriidae. Although Pleistocene baleen whales are poorly known, thus far they include only fossils of extant genera, indicating late Pliocene extinctions of numerous mysticetes alongside other marine mammals. Here, a new fossil of the late Neogene cetotheriid mysticete Herpetocetus is reported from the Lower to Middle Pleistocene Falor Formation of Northern California. This find demonstrates that at least one archaic mysticete survived well into the Quaternary Period, indicating a recent loss of a unique niche and a more complex pattern of Plio-Pleistocene faunal overturn for marine mammals than has been previously acknowledged. This discovery also lends indirect support to the hypothesis that the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is an extant cetotheriid, as it documents another cetotheriid nearly surviving to modern times. Other/Unknown Material baleen whale baleen whales COS Center for Open Science |
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COS Center for Open Science |
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description |
Pliocene baleen whale assemblages are characterized by a mix of early records of extant mysticetes, extinct genera within modern families, and late surviving members of the extinct family Cetotheriidae. Although Pleistocene baleen whales are poorly known, thus far they include only fossils of extant genera, indicating late Pliocene extinctions of numerous mysticetes alongside other marine mammals. Here, a new fossil of the late Neogene cetotheriid mysticete Herpetocetus is reported from the Lower to Middle Pleistocene Falor Formation of Northern California. This find demonstrates that at least one archaic mysticete survived well into the Quaternary Period, indicating a recent loss of a unique niche and a more complex pattern of Plio-Pleistocene faunal overturn for marine mammals than has been previously acknowledged. This discovery also lends indirect support to the hypothesis that the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is an extant cetotheriid, as it documents another cetotheriid nearly surviving to modern times. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Boessenecker, Robert |
spellingShingle |
Boessenecker, Robert Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
author_facet |
Boessenecker, Robert |
author_sort |
Boessenecker, Robert |
title |
Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
title_short |
Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
title_full |
Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
title_fullStr |
Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (Mysticeti: Cetotheriidae). |
title_sort |
pleistocene survival of an archaic dwarf baleen whale (mysticeti: cetotheriidae). |
publisher |
Center for Open Science |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.31233/osf.io/zqahu |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whale baleen whales |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.31233/osf.io/zqahu |
_version_ |
1792498427133689856 |